Once they have got the hand of numbers and counting there are lots of fun toys and educational games to help with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division as well as some great tools for helping children get to grips with fractions.
The Grimms maths friends are a lovely tool for learning and great for when children start getting homework at school. Combine them with beads, counters or blocks to help visually represent problems and make them easier to solve.
Visually seeing numbers represented as a group of objects makes addition and subtraction, multiplication and division a much less abstract concept and allows them to adopt a much more logical approach to solving problems. The Plan Toys Sort and Count Cups are perfect for this. As are the Grimm's Rainbow Bowls. As the numbers get bigger you can add additional beads or counters.
And to really make maths fun rather than a chore. Why not treat them to the fabulous Goki Till. This super fun role-play toy includes a card machine and a fully working calculator so children can practise adding up purchases while they play. What a brilliant way to make math fun.
More than just numbers
Often people think of maths as being all about numbers but playing maths games using space, shape and logic can help children build lots of transferable skills.
As children you might have been told you were either good at math or not good at math as if that was somehow pre-determined. Yet critical thinking, logic, problem solving and sequencing are all math skills that children naturally incorporate into play and can easily be encouraged with all sorts of fun games and puzzles.
The Djeco Cubissimo and Djeco Polyssimo are fun educational puzzles that require critical thinking, patience and logic to complete the puzzles on the cards. These are brain teasers that will exercise your brain and certainly don't feel anything like maths homework.
Creative children might find mathematical concepts more appealing in they are presented physically rather than on a piece of paper. We love the Grimms Magnetic boards or the Grimms Graphical Blocks Puzzle for this type of play. Use angles for building, make patterns with geometric shapes, or weigh ingredients to bake a favourite cake.
Playing with building blocks is also a type of math play. Children learn different shapes, count blocks as they build and intuitively pick up concepts such as parallel and perpendicular. They develop spatial awareness and learn how different sizes and shapes can be fiit together to build what they are imagining. The perfect blend of math and creativity.
Then there are balancing games that are perfect for learning about weight, balance and counting, or board games that require strategic thinking, planning and problem-solving.
Telling the time
Our range of math toys also includes lots of great toys and learning aids for helping children learn how to tell the time.
Telling the time also involves learning your five times table. You need to be able to count in fives to easily read the time on a clock, knowing that the space between each number on the face represents five minutes. These kinds of toys are great for inadvertently teaching children maths. They are drawn to the clock face and moving the hands and love to know what time things are happening.
The Goula Calender Clock is a really great tool for learning to tell the time as well as learning about days of the week, date of the month, months of the year, weather and the seasons. It's big size makes it perfect for a classroom or homeschool setting. And it's easy to hang on the wall and sliders mean there are no loose bits to get lost.
The Big Jigs Magnetic weatherboard is a similar toy but with lots of magnets to choose from to represent the days, weather, as well as activities so children can see what they have to look forward to that day.
And there are lots of toy clocks that are great for learning numbers and telling the time. Both the Big Jigs Teaching Clock and the Tidlo Sorting Clock have removable numbers that children have to put back in the right sequence as well as turnable hands. And we love the Stacking Clock. A simple brightly coloured toy that is multi-functional and lots of fun.
If you are looking for fun early learning toys, look no further than our math toys collection.